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Saturday, 16 July 2016

The Hindus in Afghanistan..

A place for Hindus and Buddhists

The
year 980 C.E. marks the beginning of the Muslim invasion into India
proper when Sabuktagin attacked Raja Jaya Pal in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is today a Muslim country separated from India by another
Muslim country Pakistan. But in 980 C.E. Afghanistan was also a place
where the people were Hindus and Buddhists.

History:-
The name "Afghanistan" comes from "Upa-Gana-stan" which means in
Sanskrit "the place inhabited by allied tribes". This was the place from
where Gandhari of the Mahabharat came from, Gandhar whose king was
Shakuni. Today the city of Gandhar is known as Kandahar. The Pakthoons
are descendants of the Paktha tribe mentioned in Vedic literature. Till the year 980 C.E., this area was a Hindu majority area, till
Sabuktagin from Ghazni invaded it and displaced the ruling Hindu king -
Jaya Pal Shahi. Shiva worship was widespread in Afghanistan. There was a
time when the entire region was replete with hundreds of Shiva temples
celebrating Shiva – Parvati worship and abuzz with Shiv chants, prayers,
legends and worship.

Archaeological excavations in this region conducted by Sir Estine (an
East India Company official) led to the recovery of uncountable shrines
and inscriptions. He has authored four books on that topic featuring
photos of icons, icons and inscriptions discovered. The photos show a
sun temple and a Ganesha statue too. An Islamabad University professor
Abdul Rehman has authored two books on those finds recalling the glory
and prosperity of those times. Regimes of two Hindu rulers “Kusham” and “Kidara” lasted for fairly long
periods. During their rule a number of Shiva temples were not only in
Afghanistan but in other West Asian regions too. Uzbekistan and
Takzikistan formed part of the Afghan kingdom in those times. Tashkent
has one of those ancient Shiva temples standing even today. Professor Abdul Rehman states that Bukhara region Was known as “Shah
Vihar” in ancient times. It was ruled by an Hindu king. When Arabs
invaded that kingdom its queen traveled to Kashmir to seek military
help. Arab chronicles mention her as 'Khatoon', meaning ’Woman’. “Kalhan“, the ancient Hindu historian of Kashmir has mentioned that the
army of the then Hindu ruler of Kashmir had a battle with a vast army of
the Arab Khalifa Mamoon whose headquarters was Baghdad. At that time
Bukhara had been under Muslim rule. He had invited a number of leading
Hindu experts to Baghdad. An Ayurvedic practitioner of Varansi (alias Benares) had treated the
Khalifa for some ailment afflicting the latter. In those days it was
Hindu Ayurvedic practitioners who were eagerly sought by Arab patients. A
number of Arabs had translated Sanskrit Ayurvedic texts into Arabic. A
list of those translated Sanskrit texts appears in a Volume known as al
“Frisht“. Baku (capital of the Azerbaijan region) known for its underground
petroleum yields has still an ancient Hindu temple of the Divine Flame
generated by the subterranean petrol and gas). During the Czar regimes
in Russia a Punjabi priest officiated at that temple. The walls display
some religious stanzas written in Punjabi Gurumakhi script. The market
there also had Hindu merchants. Nearby was a locality too of Hindu
inhabitants. Baku in Azerbaijani language actually signifies a Goddess.
Therefore obviously Baku derives its name from a very ancient Vedic
Goddess temple there. Kenduj a province of Afghanistan, was ruled by a king that had a Hindu
prime minister. This is mentioned in history books. Albirruni’s travel
account contains details of ancient Hindu Afghanistan, He mentions a
Hindu king, Khingla whose coins bore the imprint of Shiva. The first
ruler of that dynasty was Viahitagni.

History mentions a Shiva temple in
Gardej township, which was plundered by Arab invaders. Khingla dynasty ruled the region from 666 to 843 A.D. From 843 to 850
A.D. a Brahmin Minister ruled the region. The Kalkaa community of
Brahmins had acquired prominence in those times. They were later known
as Kallers. A township of that name exists in Punjab. Prominent among
them who find a mention in later history are Samantdev, Bheemdev,
Jaipaldev, Anandpal and Trilochan. Jaipaldev suffered a defeat in 1002 when Mohammed Ganzavi invaded India.
Unable to bear that defeat Jaipaldev committed suicide. When
Hsüan-tsang visited the region early in the 7th century CE, the Kabul
valley region was ruled by a Hindu Kshatriya king, who is identified as
the Shahi Khingal, and whose name has been found in an inscription found
in Gardez. The Hindu Shahi kings of Kabul and Gandhara may have had links to some
ruling families in neighboring Kashmir and other areas to the east. The
place where Kabul's main mosque stands today was the site of an ancient
Hindu temple and the story of its capture is kept alive in Islamic
Afghan legend which describes the Islamic hero Sabuktagin who fought
with a sword in every hand to defeat the Hindus and destroy their temple
to put up a Mosque in its place. The victory of Sabuktagin pushed the frontiers of the Hindu kingdom of
the Shahis from Kabul to behind the Hindu Kush mountains Hindu Kush is
literally "killer of Hindus" - a name given by Mahmud Ghazni to describe
the number of Hindus who died on their way into Afghanistan to a life
of captivity. After this setback, the Shahis shifted their capital from
Kubha (Kabul) to Udbhandapura (modern Und in NWFP). Sabuktagin's son Mahmud Ghazni, kept up the attacks on the Shahis and
captured Und. Subsequently, the Shahis moved their capital to Lahore and
later to Kangra in Himachal. The recovery and significance of the
inscription, telling a story of the Hindu ruler Veka and his devotion to
lord 'Shiva', was told by leading epigraphist and archaeologist Prof
Ahmad Hasan Dani of the Quaid-E-Azam University of Islamabad at the
Indian History Congress. As per Prof Ahmad Hasan, “The date of 138 of present inscription, should
be equal to 959 AD which falls during the reign of Bhimapala", Dani
said in a paper "Mazar-i Sharif inscription of the time of the Shahi
ruler Veka, dated the year 138". The inscription, with eleven lines
written in "western Sarada" style of Sanskrit of 10th century AD, had
several spelling mistakes. "As the stone is slightly broken at the top
left corner, the first letter `OM' is missing", he said. According to the inscription, "the ruler Veka occupied by eight-fold
forces, the earth, the markets and the forts. It is during his reign
that a temple of Shiva in the embrace with Uma was built at Maityasya by
Parimaha (great) Maitya for the benefit of himself and his son". Dani
said "the inscription gives the name of the king as Shahi Veka Raja and
bestows on him the qualification of `Iryatumatu Ksanginanka'.... and
(he) appears to be the same king who bears the name of Khingila or
Khinkhila who should be accepted as a Shahi ruler". Dani further said "he may be an ancestor of Veka deva. As his coins are
found in Afghanistan and he is mentioned by the Arab ruler Yaqubi, he
may be an immediate predecessor of Veka deva... Both the evidences of
inscription and coins suggest that Veka or Vaka should be accepted as an
independent ruler of northern Afghanistan.” "Thus we find another branch of the Shahi ruler in northern part of
Afghanistan beyond the Hindukush. Veka is said to have conquered the
earth, the markets and the forts by his eight-fold forces, suggesting
that he must have himself gained success against the Arab rulers of
southern Afghanistan". Dani observed that going by the findings it seemed that during the rule
of the Hindu Shahi ruler Bhimapala there was a break in the dynasty -
one branch, headed by Jayapala, ruled in Lamaghan and Punjab, and
another branch, headed by Veka, ruled in northern part of Afghanistan.
The northern branch must have come to an end by the conquest of Alptigin
in the second half of tenth century AD", he said. India has developed a highly constructive, imaginative reconstruction
strategy for Afghanistan that is designed to please every sector of
Afghan society, give India a high profile with the Afghan people, gain
the maximum political advantage with the Afghan government, increase its
influence with its Northern Alliance friends and turn its image from
that of a country that supported the Soviet invasion and the communist
regime in the 1980s to an indispensable ally and friend of the Afghan
people in the new century. So now its a known thing & highly shared topic Social media.. SOURCE from INDIADIVINE.ORG